English

To Feel Understood

In March of 2022 I flew from Chicago to NYC to see the world premiere of Sanaz Toossi’s English. It didn’t seem real that a sold-out show at a major Off-Broadway theater could be a play about Iranians. As a first-generation Iranian American, I was both excited and nervous because stories about our people are rare and, at times, misrepresentative of our culture and history. It was unfair to expect a play or a playwright to fulfill all the hopes I had for authenticity on stage, yet as I left the theatre that night I felt as if a miracle had happened. It was a play for everyone and a play only for us.

Toossi sets English in 2008 in Karaj, Iran (a suburb outside Tehran) inside a classroom where students are preparing for the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) exam. We meet the teacher Marjan, and her four students: Elham, Roya, Goli and Omid. The premise is deceptively simple in how the story is revealed to the audience. We follow their progress throughout the six-week course in short intimate scenes that add up to a powerful whole. The play is as funny as it is poignant, as playful as it is profound. Its vehicle is learning a new language and the challenges faced when trying to be understood. Its heartbeat is an exploration of identity and belonging. To learn to belong, to long to belong, to lose oneself, and perhaps to find oneself again.

I dedicate this production to my father, who is the greatest teacher I’ve ever had. He taught me the importance of knowing where I come from and still reads me Persian poetry every chance he gets. He took me to Iran when I was eleven years old and for the first time, I felt a sense of belonging. I will never fully understand what it cost my parents to leave their homeland. What I do understand is the depth of sorrow that separation brings. It is my honor and privilege to direct English, a play that embodies the dignity, humanity, and resilience of the Iranian people. A story that centers the experience of emigration at a time when we need it most. Thank you for joining us, or as we say in Farsi, khosh amadid.